Dell PowerVault MD Series Storage Arrays Storage Replication Adapter (SRA) Best Practices Guide (Client)
Notes, cautions, and warnings NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your computer. CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates either potential damage to hardware or loss of data and tells you how to avoid the problem. WARNING: A WARNING indicates a potential for property damage, personal injury, or death. Copyright © 2015 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. This product is protected by U.S. and international copyright and intellectual property laws.
Contents 1 Installing and configuring Storage Replication Adapter (SRA).................... 4 Downloading SRA..................................................................................................................................4 Installation procedure........................................................................................................................... 4 Password-protected storage arrays..........................................................................................
Installing and configuring Storage Replication Adapter (SRA) 1 Downloading SRA The Dell MD Series SRA is used with VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM) to facilitate data center failover between separate vCenter Server environments. To use the SRA, download the latest version from the Drivers and Download page available at Dell.com/support. • For the latest supported versions of SRA and VMware reference, see the Support Matrix available in the Manual section of your array at Dell.com/support.
On x64 hosts C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager\storage \sra On x86 hosts C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager\storage\sra After SRA is installed, rescan for SRAs from the Site Recovery manager in the vSphere Client. Figure 2. Site Recovery Manager (Rescan SRAs) Password-protected storage arrays If your environment implements password security on the storage arrays, modify the SraConfigurationData.
NVSRAM settings SRM test failover requires a change to the default NVSRAM settings on the MD storage array. During test failover, snapshots are created on the recovery site's storage array which is then mapped to the default host group and the ESX or ESXi host group. Before completing the following tasks, the RAID controllers must be rebooted. Dell recommends you to complete the following tasks during maintenance or in a preproduction environment. To change the NVSRAM settings: 1.
Figure 5. Review Current NVSRAM Settings 4. To change the NVSRAM setting of your primary RAID controller [0], run the following command. set controller[0] NVSRAMByte[0x3b]=2;HTTP/1 Figure 6. Change NVSRAM Setting on Primary RAID Controller 5. Ensure that your NVSRAM settings are changed by running the show controller command.
Figure 7. Confirm New NVSRAM Setting 6. Reset the primary RAID controller module to load the new NVSRAM setting into controller memory: reset controller[0]; NOTE: The reset controller command takes several minutes to run. Do not perform I/O operations involving the RAID controller until the command successfully completes.
Figure 8. Reset Primary RAID Controller to Load New NVSRAM Settings 7. Repeat task 3 through task 6 on the secondary RAID controller by substituting [1] for [0] in the command syntax examples shown. 8. Close the Script Editor dialog box. SRA device management service The process monitors and synchronizes communications between the MD SRA and the MD storage arrays.
1701 100 Specifies which host the Win32 Service initialization file (NesSvc) runs on. Currently, the only supported value is localhost. In future releases, it may be possible to share instances of NesSvc across multiple installations of SRA, which enhances performance and simplifies cooperation between multiple SRA instances.
Asynchronous Remote Replication 2 This feature performs remote replication using Point-in-Time (PiT) snapshots and is supported on both Fibre Channel and iSCSI MD storage arrays. iSCSI-Based Remote Replication With added support for Remote Replication over iSCSI protocol, greater replication distances are now possible. However, this improvement in replication distances impacts latency (compared to earlier Fibre Channel-only support).
General volume recommendations When designing a disaster recovery strategy using VMware Site Recovery Manager and MD Series storage arrays, keep in mind these considerations: • Protection works on a datastore level (storage array virtual disk). All VMs on the same datastore that requires protection are also protected and replicated. • Multiple small-sized datastores and virtual disks must be used to limit the amount of data replicated to the recovery site.
Figure 9. Site Recovery Manager Advanced Settings 2. Click storage and set the following values: • storage.commandTimeout = 900 • storageProvider.hostRescanRepeatCnt = 2 • storageProvider.hostRescanTimeoutSec = 900 3. Click OK to save your changes. 4. Click storageProvider and set the following values: storageProvider.fixRecoveredDatastoreNames = enabled ESX/ESXi host settings The following changes are recommended for ESX or ESXi host settings: • Disk.
Snapshot Repository sizing 3 A new feature of firmware 07.83.xx.xx are Point-in-Time Snapshots. These provide the ability to roll back snapshots to earlier point-in-time saves and optimize the data changes between snapshot images. This feature utilizes two separate repositories to facilitate tracking of changes to the base volume. They are the Snapshot Group repository and Snapshot Volume repository.
Figure 11. MDSM Snapshot Volume View How SRA uses snapshots The MD Series SRA utilizes Point-in-Time Snapshots if the feature is enabled on the storage array during test failover, the SRA creates a Snapshot Group, Snapshot Image, and Snapshot Volume on the recovery site’s storage array for all volumes contained in the protection groups being tested.
repositories, in the left pane, click All Logical Objects. In the working pane, from the Object Type dropdown menu, select Repositories. Figure 12. MDSM Snapshot Volume View To view the repository space, mode, or timestamps, from the drop-down menu, select Volumes or Snapshot Groups.
Getting help 4 Documentation matrix The documentation matrix provides information about documents that you can refer to for setting up and managing your system. Dell documentation • For all PowerEdge and PowerVault documentation, go to Dell.com/support and enter the system Service Tag to get your system documentation. • For all Virtualization documents, go to Dell.com/virtualizationsolutions. • For all operating system documents, go to Dell.com/operatingsystemmanuals.
Dell provides several online and telephone-based support and service options. Availability varies by country and product, and some services may not be available in your area. To contact Dell for sales, technical support, or customer service issues: 1. Go to dell.com/support. 2. Select your support category. 3. Verify your country or region in the Choose a Country/Region drop-down list at the bottom of the page. 4. Select the appropriate service or support link based on your need.
